FYR of Macedonia/ 6. Financing of culture

6.1 Short overview

The Ministry of Culture is responsible for distributing public funds for culture on the basis of an annual plan, which is developed by the Ministry at the end of the year for the following year. The allocation of the overall state budget to different sectors is prescribed by law (annual Law on the National Budget). Culture's share of the state budget in 2002 to 2006 ranged from 2.40% to 1.80%. In 2005, culture's share of the state budget was 2.227%.

The Ministry of Culture is the main source of funding for culture. It provides annual funding to the national cultural institutions (salaries, investments, running costs such as heating, insurance of equipment, buildings, exhibits, etc.) and to specific programmes that distribute funds on the basis of competition. The amount of money reserved to pay the salaries of those employed on a full time basis in cultural institutions represented a share of 62% of the total budget for culture in 1992. This figure decreased to 59% in 1995, 39% in 2000 and 35% in 2002 and 45.12% in 2005.

In December 2003, the government passed the Decision on the Network of National Institutions in the Field of Culture. According to this Decision only 51 (from the previous 115) institutions gained the status of national institutions that are completely financed by the Ministry of Culture. All other cultural institutions are considered local and should be financed by the local governments (salaries, running costs etc.). The local institutions can apply for annual funding from the Ministry of Culture for programmes and specific projects. Since June 2005, this has been put into practice.

In 2005, the structure of the cultural budget was: 45.12% for salaries; 2.65% for heating; 0.99% for insurance and other services to the institutions; 2.65% for capital investments (reconstructions, equipment etc.) and 44.24 % for programmes and projects.

In 2013 there were 2 387 employees in the national institutions and 190 in the Ministry of Culture.

Table 14 includes the expenses of the Ministry alone (salaries - including the salaries for the Cultural Heritage Protection Office, subventions and transfers, capital expenses, the fund for the national artist etc.). Table 15 includes the transfers to the institutions or other subjects for financing of their cultural projects according to the annual programme, the salaries and other expenses of the national institutions etc.

The significant disproportions in the Ministry's budget between 2006-07 and 2010-11 is mostly related to the scheduled activities that were "imposed" on the Ministry of Culture, like the "Skopje 2014" project, the building of numerous memorial monuments, publishing projects, temporary archaeological campaigns etc. In practice, very little funds were left for regular cultural activities.

The draft of the 2013 National Budget initiated protests by the opposition inside and outside the Parliament building. They have submitted around 100 amendments to the budget to bring down spending, reportedly accusing the government of planning spending for grandiose monuments, expensive cars and furniture. They accused the ruling coalition of abusing parliamentary process by pushing for a vote on the budget before amendments had been considered. As opposition MPs scuffled with pro-government counterparts to try to prevent a debate on a budget they felt was too profligate from getting underway, security guards then forced opposition deputies out of the parliament building, who joined their supporters in the streets as the government pushed through a 64-4 vote in favour of its own budget proposal. Parliament has 120 members.

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